Political leaders urge nations to donate more to Syria

Political party leaders have urged countries to pledge more money towards Syria, after throwing their support behind the United Nations' £4 billion appeal to help millions of Syrians forced to flee the civil war.

In a rare joint statement, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg said:

More than 9 million people in Syria are suffering this Christmas, in desperate need of our help. Four million of them are children - the equivalent of every primary school pupil in England. This is an urgent humanitarian issue that transcends the differences of party politics.

Our country has a long history of helping those in dire need. As a nation, we have already given £523 million - including many generous donations from members of the public. But even more is needed to cope with the scale of the suffering.